Specialized processes for physically combining materials are often used in the food and pharmaceutical fields. The advantages of providing comestibles units which deliver more than one ingredient at a time are clear. Such advantages include lower cost, greater efficiency of production and ease of consumption (e.g., ingestion).
Various processes are conventionally used to make such units.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,507 to Whistler, incorporated herein by reference, covers porous spherical starch granules whose surfaces contain additives which can be released when rubbed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,730 to Fuisz, also incorporated by reference, shows the melt-spinning of biodegradable polymers and bio-affecting agents to yield controlled release dosage systems.
These and other patents owned by the assignee of this invention deal with processes for treating ingredients for bio-affecting and other formulations in order to enhance the storage, delivery, or handling of the ingredients and/or the final products.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,917, incorporated herein by reference, discloses the making of a "solloid" by combining a solid non-fat substrate having an active associated therewith and a solid fat solidifiable at room temperature and subjecting the combination to disruptive forces sufficient to form and maintain a spheroidal solid.
U.S. Pat. No 5,597,416, also co-owned herewith, describes bi-dimensionally stabilized crystalline sugar structures which, while amorphous, are loaded with a non-solvent liquid. These structures are elongated and are made from feedstocks which incorporate crystallization modifiers, such as water or surfactants.
Another form of material processing is disclosed in copending commonly owned U.S. application Ser. No. 08/330,412, filed Oct. 28, 1994, entitled LIQUIFLASH PARTICLES AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME. This application discloses "liquiflash" processing, in which a feedstock is reduced to a condition wherein substantially all resistance to liquid flow is removed in an area localized to a processing barrier. A force is applied to the flowing feedstock in an amount sufficient to divide the material into discrete particles. This application, also, is incorporated herein by reference.
There remains a need for effective processes for combining materials, which processes yield combinations which are safe and useful in a variety of fields, but especially in the food and pharmaceutical fields.